


ITaV Scrapped Storyline

by neverwinter (KingPreussen)



Series: it takes a village [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Origin Story, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angus Whump, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-16 20:59:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13062039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingPreussen/pseuds/neverwinter
Summary: "You can't reallyplanwhen a baby will be born, Taako," Magnus said with laughter obvious in his voice. Taako turned back to glare at him, an expression Merle had told him many times wouldn't look out of place on a feral cat.---Taako, Magnus, and Merle meet someone on their way to the birth of baby Fangbattle.





	ITaV Scrapped Storyline

**Author's Note:**

> when i was originally working on how angus and taako came to be family, i wrote this up (its literally from april of this year), but then reno became my actual backstory
> 
> this no longer fits within my canon. i figured, although its overly angsty, someone might like to read it? let me know what you think!
> 
> (on a side note, while checking on hathaways family name, i found someone who ships scales and tanzer. im intrigued.)

There was nothing redeemable in a busy Sunday. Being outside on the last day of the weekend was practically a sin, as far as Taako was concerned. This truth was only made worse by the fact that it was pouring buckets and Taako had somewhere to _be_ in two hours. "Why they couldn't plan this for later I have no fucking idea," he groused mostly to himself, stepping into the train after pushing Merle and Magnus out of the way (read: they let him go first) and closing his umbrella.

"You can't really _plan_ when a baby will be born, Taako," Magnus said with laughter obvious in his voice. Taako turned back to glare at him, an expression Merle had told him many times wouldn't look out of place on a feral cat. After a sneer that could have easily been paired with a hiss, Taako turned and began looking for a free seat in the loud, overcrowded car.

In some of the last few rows there was a clutch of three empty seats, the fourth occupied by a young boy. Taako didn't think much of it, assuming he was just some kid who didn't want to sit with his parents in order to seem more independent or whatever. Taako himself would have given anything for someone to take care of him at that age… but it was none of his business. He adjusted the skirt of his wool dress over his thighs as he sat and crossed his legs, leaning back in the window seat across from the strange boy.

Merle sat beside him, and Magnus next to the kid. He didn't seem nervous to be penned in by the three of them; to the contrary, he looked kind of listless and unobservant, his hair a mess of long, limp curls that almost covered his eyes.

Magnus, never one to let a new person go un-met, looked over at the boy beside him and said, "Hey, kiddo! What's your name?"

Merle rolled his eyes and pulled the day's newspaper out of his jacket so that he hopefully wouldn’t be roped into the conversation. Taako did the same with his phone, scrolling through the Forever 21 website with half of his concentration on what was going on in front of him.

The boy took a little while to respond, almost as if he were too tired to parse Magnus' question. Then he blinked open deep, dark brown eyes, one of them bloodshot, and turned them toward the fighter. "Mm, Angus, sir." He finally seemed to notice the three of them properly and pulled his legs a little closer to him in the seat. "I'm sorry, am I in the way?"

"Nah, you're fine!" People tended to assume Magnus was stupid from his generally cheerful nature, but Taako could tell he knew full well that this boy--Angus--would not be comfortable with being touched. He kept his hands to himself, the desire to ruffle Angus' hair clear as day in his expression, and instead asked, "What are you on your way to Hogsbottom for? Family gathering?"

Something like a wry smile flickered across Angus' face. Taako tried to be surreptitious while studying him over the edge of his phone; he was Human, probably only five or six years old, but _entirely_ too thin for a growing child. Humans grew at an alarming rate compared to Elves and Angus looked like he didn't have any fat to spare. His smile, which should have been cute and innocent, looked like a raw wound opening on his ashen face.

"Where are your parents, pumpkin?" Taako asked before he could stop himself. Angus' eyes turned on him, half-lidded and dark, and the gash of his smile thinned.

"Next car over," he said mechanically. The train started to roll forward then, slowly bumping over the tracks. "Didn't want to sit with them."

Merle turned a page in his newspaper, still attempting to stay removed from the proceedings, but Magnus had no such goal. "You seem tired, though. Shouldn't you stay with them in case your stop comes?"

Angus' ugly grin returned. "If you wanted me to leave you could have just said so, sir," he said in a cutting, defensive voice. He would have continued if he didn't cough into his hands at that moment, the sharp movements making his little frame shake worryingly. Taako watched him wipe his hands on the front of his dark, surprisingly tattered coat, but it wasn't enough to completely remove a disturbing red stain from his palms.

"Kid, you've got to get to a healer," Taako said almost without his body's permission. He was alarmed that any parent wouldn't notice their child's apparent illness, much less let him go off on his own while ill. "Merle, you have healing spells, sometimes."

"No, sir, I'm fine." Angus' voice rasped so roughly _Taako's_ throat hurt from hearing it. He stood up, still shaking like he'd collapse at any second, and stepped into the aisle. "Sorry for bothering you, sirs." Then he opened the door between cars and was gone.

Magnus looked at Taako with a predictably worried expression. "Dude," he emphasized. 

"I know, homie, but we can't do anything about it." Taako uncrossed and recrossed his legs, uncomfortable. "His parents have to take care of him, not us."

Merle scoffed but it didn't sound mocking, just disbelieving. "He was lying. Kid's parents aren't on the train."

Taako cocked an eyebrow at him. "Why do you think that?" he asked.

The Cleric deigned to raise his eyes from the article he was quite clearly staring unseeing at. "No normal parent would let their son get that sick. He's lying. My only question is why an orphan would move away from the city instead of into it."

Magnus' expression got more anxious by the second. "We have to help him, then," he said, but Merle was already cutting him off.

"It'd be like spooking a rabbit. Imagine three grown men come up to you on a train claiming they're trying to help you." He lifted one hand from his paper to rub at his eyes beneath his glasses. "Maybe we can tell the Redcheeks to look out for him, since they own so much of the town."

Taako tucked his phone into his messenger bag and folded his arms across his chest. "Wouldn't hurt," he said, and the shortness of his tone mirrored his remaining interest in the topic. Magnus looked between him and Merle, seeming about ready to "rush in" until he really thought about it and slumped back into his seat.

"Fuck," he said emphatically. Taako silently agreed.


End file.
